09/06/23 09/06/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the indictment list 220 five incidents which we allege the defendants worked together to prevent the construction of the atlanta public safety training center. amy: georgia's republican attorney general has filed rico charges against 61 activists and he accuses it to him of being part of a criminal enterprise to stop cop city, the $90 million police training complex facing

ongoing protests. the charges were approved by the same grand jury that indicted former president trump and 18 others of rico charges. we'll get an update from a movement lawyer and a stop cop city activist in atlanta. then to ukraine. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken has made a surprise visit after the biden administration said it will for the first time send munitions containing radioactive depleted uranium to ukraine. we will speak with a british journalist about his expose "contamination fears after ukraine loses british tank." finally, to the first africa climate summit in nairobi. we will speak to the canyon activist there. -- 28 canyon activist there. >> over 450 organizers came

together against the fossil fuel industry. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. enrique tarrio, the former leader of the far-right proud boys, has been sentenced to 22 years in prison. it is the longest sentence term handed down to anyone involved in the january 6 insurrection. in may, tarrio and three other members of the proud boys were convicted of seditious conspiracy. on tuesday, u.s. district judge timothy kelly said tarrio was "the ultimate leader of that conspiracy." tarrio received the stiffest sentence even though he was not

on the day of january 6 since he had been arrested in a separate case days earlier and was ordered to stay away from d.c. during the trial, prosecutors had portrayed the proud boys as having served as donald trump's army on january 6. last week, four other proud boys were sentenced to between 10 and 18 years in prison. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken has arrived in kyiv on an unannounced visit to ukraine. this is blinken's fourth trip to ukraine since the russian invasion but for the first time blinken plans to spend the night. he is expected to announce a new package worth more than $1 billion in u.s. aid for ukraine. >> we want to make sure ukraine has what it needs not only to succeed in the counteroffensive but has what it needs for the long-term to make sure it has a strong defense capacity so that future aggressions like this don't happen again.

amy: blinken's visit came just hours after russian cruise missiles hit kyiv in the first aerial attack on the capital in about a week. meanwhile, a russian drone hit the danube port of izmail in the odesa region, killing one person. there are a number of developments in the legal cases against donald trump. former white house chief of staff mark meadows pleaded not guilty tuesday and waived his formal arraignment. meadows is one of trump's 18 co-defendants accused of being part of a criminal enterprise that attempted to overturn the 2020 election in georgia. attorney john eastman and former justice department official jeffrey clark also pleaded not guilty on tuesday. meanwhile, in washington, d.c., special counsel jack smith has warned that trump's daily statements may prejudice the jury pool in washington where trump is facing a separate criminal trial. trump has repeatedly attacked smith as well as u.s. district judge tanya chutkan. in other legal news, the trial of trump's former trade adviser peter navarro has begun.

he was indicted for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the house committee investigating the january 6 insurrection. in atlanta, georgia activists , 61 have been indicted on rico charges for their involvement in the protests against the construction of a massive $90 million police training complex known as cop city. georgia's republican attorney general christopher carr accuses the activists of violating the state's racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act, the indictment was handed out by the same fulton county grand jury panel that indicted president donald trump and 18 co-defendants on rico charges. many of the protesters have already been charged with domestic terrorism. the aclu blasted the indictment of the cop city protesters. aclu attorney aamra ahmad said -- "we are extremely concerned by this breathtakingly broad and unprecedented use of state terrorism, anti-racketeering and money laundering laws against

protesters." we'll have more on this story after headlines. the united nations secretary general announced earlier today that climate breakdown has begun. antonio guterres made the remark as the world meteorological organization released new data on this summer's record breaking heat in the northern hemisphere. according to the organization, last month was the hottest august on record "by a large margin" and the second hottest month ever recorded. the only month hotter was this past july. guterres said, "the dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting." this comes as extreme weather continues to devastate areas across the globe. in southern brazil, at least 21 people have died after a cyclone triggered floods and landslides in the state of rio grande do sul.

the storm forced at least 6000 people from their homes. >> i feel devastated. i lost everything. i have nothing left. amy: in other climate news, a massive rain storm hit greece, turkey, and bulgaria, killing at least seven people. in istanbul, about a dozen people had to be rescued from a library after being stranded by floods. parts of greece recorded more than 30 inches of rain. the storm comes as greece just begins to recover from record breaking wildfires. meanwhile, in china, a typhoon inundated the southeastern province of fujian, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes. india is preparing to host the g20's annual summit for the first time. the talks begin in delhi on saturday. for months, indian authorities have ordered bulldozers to destroy the homes of people who live in shanties near the g20 conference. many displaced residents say they have no place to go.

>> we have been living here for the last 25, 30 years. where do we go now that our houses are suddenly demolished? we have no facilities or place to live and we have become homeless. i hope the authorities get sick and die and they will be cursed by the poor. amy: brazilian president luiz inacio lula da silva has officially recognized two indigenous territories in an attempt to protect the land from illegal loggers, miners, and cattle ranchers. lula spoke tuesday at a ceremony to mark amazon day. >> the amazonian people deserve to have their rights guaranteed and opportunities for a better life. if there is no future for the amazon and its people, there will be no future for the planet, either. that is what today's event is about come actions to guarantee the future of the amazon in each of us. amy: in a major diplomatic development, saudi arabia and

iran have exchanged ambassadors formally ending a seven year diplomatic rift between the oil giants. in march, china brokered a deal for the two countries to restore relations. the spanish soccer federation has appointed montse tome to become the first woman to serve as coach of the women's national soccer team which won the women's world cup three weeks ago. the announcement was made shortly after the federation fired coach jorge vilda who had long faced criticism for his coaching style. calls for vilda's resignation grew after he expressed support for spanish soccer federation president luis rubiales who forcibly kissed spanish player jenni hermoso during the women's world cup awards ceremony. he faces nationwide calls to be ousted, including from the women's soccer team's staff and prominent politicians. spain's prime minister said --

in the united states federal , a court has stuck down alabama's congressional map which was designed by republicans to dilute the power of black voters. the judges said they were "deeply troubled" that lawmakers had defied a prior court order to draw a map with two majority-black districts. two of the judges in this case were appointed by donald trump. a court-appointed special master will now draw new congressional districts. alabama's attorney general has vowed to appeal the decision. in texas, the impeachment trial of republican attorney general ken paxton has begun in the republican-controlled texas state senate. paxton has pleaded not guilty to all 16 articles of impeachment. he is accused of abusing his office, bribery, and obstruction of justice.

here in new york, the police department has agreed to change how it responds to protests after reaching a settlement to lawsuits stemming from the department's violent response to the black lives matter protests in 2020. the nypd reached the settlement with new york attorney general letitia james, the legal aid society, and the new york civil liberties union. as part of the settlement, the nypd agreed to stop using a tactic called kettling to trap and arrest protesters. other key elements to the settlement include the creation of a new oversight committee to assess how police respond to protests. new york attorney general letitia james said -- "too often peaceful protesters have been met with force that has harmed innocent new yorkers simply trying to exercise their rights. today's agreement will meaningfully change how the nypd engages with and responds to public demonstrations in new york city." and former new mexico governor bill richardson has died at the age of 75.

he also served as u.s. ambassador to the united nations, energy secretary, and u.s. congressmember, spent 14 years in congress including a period as chair of the congressional hispanic caucus. richardson also went on dozens of humanitarian missions to help secure the release of americans held overseas, including trips to iraq, afghanistan, cuba, colombia, sudan, north korea, and russia where he helped free the wnba star brittney griner. as energy secretary, richardson faced criticism for his handling of the arrest of the taiwanese-american nuclear scientist wen ho lee who was held for 278 days in solitary confinement after being falsely accused of being a chinese spy. wen ho lee eventually plead guilty to a minor charge. at the time, a federal judge issued a dramatic apology to wen ho lee, but richardson would continue to defend his handling of the case. he appeared on democracy now! in

2005. >> i believe we acted properly in safeguarding our nuclear secrets. there were some mistakes in the case that involved the entire federal government. i stand behind everything that i did. amy: to see the whole interview with governor richardson that juan gonzalez and i did back in 2005, go to democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we are beginning today's show in atlanta, georgia, where the state's republican attorney general announced a sweeping new rico indictment against 61 activists and others he accuses of being part of a "criminal enterprise" to stop cop city, a

massive $90 million police training complex that is facing widespread opposition and ongoing protests. the charges were brought in fulton county and approved by the same grand jury that indicted former president donald trump and 18 of his associates on rico, or racketeering, charges brought by fulton county district attorney fani willis, who is a democrat. at a news conference tuesday, georgia attorney general chris carr and john fowler, head of george's prosecution division, laid out their allegations and why they filed the case in fulton county. >> as alleged in the indictment, the defendants are members of defendant the atlanta forest, an anarchist, anti-police, antibusiness extremist organization. we contend the 61 defendants together have conspired to prevent the construction of the alleged public safety training center by conducting,

coordinating, and organizing acts of violence, intimidation, and property destruction. we avail ourselves to a racketeering law, anywhere that a predicate act or an overt act and can furtherance of a converse occurred is where you can indict the case. >> wen yu alleged a case, there is the whole purpose of the georgia racketeering law as they are working in some way toward the same goal. they formed conspiracy to do that. that doesn't necessarily mean every single person has to talk to every single person. that is why it is because it is a large case and -- if you want to tie everybody together and they're trying to do it

together, racketeering is the way to do it. amy: in addition to the 61 rico indictments, five people were also indicted on domestic terrorism and first-degree arson charges, three people with the atlanta solidarity fund were each indicted on 15 counts of money laundering for their work to provide bail money and legal aid for protesters. the indictment was issued on september 5 and filed august 29, the indictment alleges the protest included "violent anti-police sentiment" that is now one of the "core driving motives" of protests to stop cop city. for more, we go to atlanta where we are joined by keyanna jones, stop cop city organizer for community movement builders, and devin franklin, movement policy counsel at the southern center for human rights. he worked over a decade as a public defender in atlanta. his group has issued a call for lawyers to represent the 61 people now facing rico charges. we welcome you both to democracy now! these are late-breaking

developments. devin, can you explain what happened? can you explain these rico charges against the activists from the same fulton county grand jury that approved the rico charges against president trump? this was all led by the republican attorney general, almost looks like a response to what fani willis did with the grand jury against president trump and others. >> yes, it is a response. i would argue it is response to the larger movement as it pertains to several matters of police violence and government prejudice. it is just a lot going on. i think the state has shown they don't have a meaningful way to respond to what the people are showing they want and they are choosing to use the legal process in an essentially

violent way to target protesters. juan: could you talk about the indictment itself? some of the main aspects of it, devin franklin, and the number of people is extraordinary that are charged? >> it is rare for this number of people to be included on an indictment. in my 12 years as a public defender, i never had a case that was this large or witnessed a case that was this large. i think we we look at the number of people accused and we look at the allegations included in the indictment, what we see are a wide variety of activities that are deemed to be criminal and that includes things such as passing out flyers. a clear example of first amendment -- ask her sizing first minute -- exercising first

amendment rights. people conducting business in an otherwise lawful manner have been deemed to be part of some ominous infrastructure and it is just not accurate. this is clearly a political prosecution and, yeah. juan: how does it turn out the same grand jury that indicted trump and his associates was the grand jury on this particular case? >> it appears to be so from the information i have been given. it could simply be a matter of timing. it could have been something [indiscernible] d.a. fani willis and ag chris carr. there is no way to know for certain. what we do know is for some point in time or a period of time, rather, the attorney general of the state of georgia, the governor of the state of

georgia brian kemp, have both expressed discontent with the success that has been gained by the cop city movement and momentum created in the streets from other people and they have chosen to use those things which they have at their disposal to assist and criminalize otherwise lawful activity. amy: what is interesting is the top prosecutor of the cab announced she is stepping away from every case involving atlanta's public safety training center cop city. the district attorney sherry boston announced she is out. she will not support these charges going forward. your response to this? >> i think it is telling. the prosecutor has a pretty good reputation in the legal community. for her to take a look at the

actions that the attorney general was seeking to go forward with in her county and for her to say, i don't want to be part of it, i have concerns about the legitimacy of these charges, i have concerns about the intent of the charges that the prosecutor attorney general chris carr is seeking -- i think it is a unique way of saying the quiet part out loud which is, something is not right. something doesn't smell right with the entire situation and i want no part of it. i think that will bear out as we get deeper into the discovery that is to follow the indictment. amy: very quickly, your own center, the southern center for human rights, has it been named in any way in this? you have called for lawyers around the country to come help represent the protesters, the yourself are a lawyer and former public defender. >> correct.

in no way am i aware that we have been named in anything. we are simply -- essentially just trying to make sure persons who are brought within the arms of the legal system have access to counsel. they have a constitutional right. there is nothing unlawful ensuring people have fair come accurate, zealous representation when they are taking on a system such as what the state of georgia is being at this point in time. juan: i would like to bring keyanna jones into the conversation, and organizer against cop city. welcome to democracy now! your response to these indictments? >> my response to these indictments is just the same as devin's. we know this is retaliation for anyone who seeks to oppose the government here in georgia. a very clear message was sent with this particular rico

indictment. we see the date on this indictment reads may 25, 2020, the date that george floyd was murdered, the date people all across this country stood up and said enough is enough and we won't stand for police terror, excessive violence, and brutality, and the senseless killing of innocent black people around the country. since that date, this country has been upended by governments across the nation trying to build cop citys because the government is upset that people seek to oppose and use their first amendment right to protest when we see injustice coming from those in authority. amy: can you talk about examples of the charges? for example, handing out flyers? >> yes. people work indicted for handing out flyers. what those flyers contain, first of all, messages that they stop cop city, messages that give

details about what cop city truly is that it is actually a militarized training facility that would destroy 381 acres of forest land in a black neighborhood where the city of atlanta essentially had no jurisdiction in dekalb but somehow backroom deals were made and laws were broken in order to acquire the land. some of the flyers named the murderers of tortuguita. there is nothing that is wrong with giving information. so information that was obtained your public record that said, hey, there was a protester that was killed for sitting with their hands up. these are the perpetrators. we need justice. we want justice. i don't understand how giving out flyers with information is domestic terrorism.

i don't understand how holding a sign that says open stop cop city is domestic terrorism. i don't understand how opposing the government using your legal right to protest, or right to freedom of speech is domestic terrorism. i certainly don't understand how attending a music festival is domestic terrorism. juan: what about this issue of the campaign for a ballot referendum against cop city? the impact of something like this indictment on potential voters? >> absolutely. this is the state's last desperate attempt to shut down the ballot referendum. we have been back and forth in court with the mayor and the city of atlanta, the state of georgia about the validity of this ballot referendum which we know we have the right to under the georgia constitution come the same way attorney general car went to the loss to throw

together this rico. we know we have a legal right to this ballot referendum will stop it instead, attorney general car, mayor dickens of atlanta, have tried to tie us up in court to invalidate not only this referendum but all referendum going forward, which is a very dangerous precedent that would be set. what it says, essentially, if you don't like the laws that have been passed or something that has been done by your local government, did he would have no recourse. i believe that in itself is the ultimate pinnacle of anti-democracy. amy: attorney devin franklin, all of these activists will be processed at the fulton county jail in the same way that trump was and his co-conspirators?

and can these charges be expanded to others? and as people organize for the referendum, as they organize against cop city -- which would be the largest such training facility in the country -- does this completely derail it as they fight for their own vindication? >> nothing derails the movement. there have been ups and downs throughout the entire period of this. one thing we know is the movement has shown a great deal of resiliency, structural organization. it is a wide-ranging movement. lack people, white people, heterosexual, transgender people, social justice activists . it is a coalition of people have come together around several issues and allowed people to learn from one another about a variety of things. i do not believe this farce of

an indictment is going to intimidate those members of the movement. to answer your first question, i do believe the persons who have been charged as some point in time will go to the same booking processes as the people involved in the trump indictment. it is too early to know if we will have the same access [indiscernible] amy: you just froze. go ahead. >> it is unclear as to whether or not members of the movement will have access to the same negotiation abilities for bonds as members of the trump indictment did. we would certainly hope so but it is early in the process and we are awaiting word of what that will look like. amy: i want to thank you both for being with this devin

, franklin, movement policy counsel at the southern center for human rights. and keyanna jones, stop cop city organizer for community movement builders, both speaking to us from atlanta, georgia. next up, a surprise visit to kyiv by antony blinken. the battens says it will for the first time send munitions containing radioactive depleted uranium to ukraine. we will speak with a british journalist about his new exposé "contamination fears after your ukraine lost a british tank with depleted uranium munitions. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "i bled on stage at first ave" by open mike eagle. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn now to ukraine. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken has arrived in kyiv, expected to announce a new package worth more than what

again dollars in u.s. aid for ukraine. this comes as the biden administration reportedly is going to announce for the first time it will send depleted uranium munitions to ukraine even though the weapons are radioactive and their use causes contamination that is hazardous to human health. reuters reports the armor-piercing uranium munitions are part of a new military aid package for ukraine set to be unveiled in the next week. this follows a previous decision by the biden administration to arm ukraine with cluster munitions, which have been banned by an international treaty ratified by more than 110 countries. this week a new report by the cluster munition coalition found 916 deaths and injuries from cluster bombs in ukraine last year. meanwhile, it was reported monday one of the 14 so-called challenger 2 tanks that britain sent to ukraine, with the capacity to fire depleted uranium shells, was destroyed in

a battle with russian forces in the village of robotyne, which ukraine says its troops recently captured in its counteroffensive. for more, we go to london where we are joined by phil miller, chief reporter for declassified u.k., an independent media outlet that focuses on national security. history is headlined "contamination fears after ukraine loses british tank." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. and you start off by responding, though you are in britain, to the u.s., what looks like the biden administration decision to send munitions to ukraine? tell us what you found in your exposé with the british tank that was just destroyed? >> thank you for having me. i think biden's decision to send tanks with depleted uranium to ukraine have been made possible

in large part because britain led the way on this. if you remember back in january, the prime minister announced britain was going to send these 14 tanks and that was at a time when it was controversial just to send tanks. that helped cross the redline. after that, we saw countries like germany announcing they would send much larger quantities of tanks to ukraine. this has been britain's role throughout the war, upped the ante and lead the way on weapon supplies to ukraine despite the fears about what would affect it would have on us on the battlefield. starting with antitank launches back right before the invasion to then tanks to more recently increase missiles, this seems to be the role britain has played in the conflict. it makes it easier for other countries like germany or now the u.s. to send much larger quantities of weapon systems one considers controversial. the reason depleted uranium is so controversial is nuclear

waste. it is radioactive. the u.k. stockpiles even contain some trace amounts of plutonium. much of this was made in the 1980's and 1990's and some may have expired. it was used most notably in the gulf wars in iraq. there have been a long concern there about birth defects and cancers linked to the use of this ignition in iraq and the former yugoslavia. when i revealed this was being sent, there was international outcry. the u.n. secretary chao spokesman condemned the decision by the u.k. to supply these weapons. vladimir putin used it as a pretext to send so-called tactical nuclear weapons to belarus, which brought europe in the world one step closer to

nuclear computation and the catastrophic consequences that would flow from that. even before these weapons were fired in ukraine, it already had applications against international peace. the british ministry of defense says there is a low risk to human health from using these weapons. it says it is necessary because depleted uranium is a metal able to punch through tank armor in a way that other munitions aren't able to, so it is made essentially as a dark fired through enemy tanks. but this justification is slightly undermined by the fact u.s. military also likes to point out russia is increasingly having to use antiquated tanks that were made in the 1960's and even armored personnel carriers that were built in 1954. the u.k. military is trying to have its cake and eat it with this argument saying ukrainians very advanced anti-armored

weapons while at the same time highlighting russia is using antiquated weapon systems. even some of the more recent tanks have been upgraded, the u.k. military is not able to point to any evidence putin has allowed his troops to use this munition type yet in ukraine. this is something the u.k. has introduced to the battle zone. the tanks arrived in april and times for ukraine -- in time for ukraine's counteroffensive. david held awaiting a breakthrough. it seems only in the last week or so has the counteroffensive advanced to the point where we started to see videos of these british challenger 2 tanks in action. most surprisingly was the footage this week showing one of them billowing with smoke after being hit, reasonably by russian fire. this is essentially the first time a challenger 2 tank has been destroyed in enemy action. i am told the crew was said to

have survived but there is a real risk there was depleted uranium inside that could be ignited by the fire and producing a toxic aerosol that could cause a risk both to the tank crew and any other soldiers passing through the area. the video is filmed by what appears to be ukrainian soldiers driving downwind with open windows and they certainly would have inhaled the toxic fumes. the uk's military own health assessment from the 1980's when this ammunition was invented shows they were very concerned about the risk of a fire igniting the same edition and said you would need to send teams to deal with it, people would need to stay upwind. anyone who and held it should be taken to hospital and you need a contamination team to deal the large quantities of contaminated soil. this area of ukraine is alive war zone so they won't be able to undertake those types of

decontamination efforts for some time and will be further prevented by cluster bombs which we don't have a high failure rate and can make it hard for mining teams to go in. using these tank -- children go and play. they can become contaminated with depleted uranium, leading to very rare forms of cancer. juan: when britain used depleted uranium in iraq in 2003, the government said it would publish the locations where it was fired and help with decontamination. today follow through on that? has the u.k. made any such promises? >> back in 2003, after the invasion of iraq, the u.k. military recognize it at a so-called moral obligation to help iraq to decontaminate any

tanks that britain had fired this depleted uranium at. small amounts of money were given for these projects. i don't think decontamination efforts -- there were serious shortcomings. at least the principal was made in open acknowledgment. what we have seen with ukraine, they said they're not going to publish the foreign locations and they're not going to help to any specific decontamination projects. there seems to be a shift, a hardening of attitudes over the last 20 years. even though the scientific body shows greater concern with this type of ammunition. amy: i want to spec with iraq. juuan, and 2004, you did an amazing investigative report for

"the new york daily news" that found four of nine soldiers of the 442nd military police company of the new york army national guard who returned from iraq tested positive for depleted uranium contamination. three of the contaminated soldiers joined us on the show. this was sergeant agustin matos. >> looked at me like i have two heads when i said i wanted to get tested for depleted uranium. they told us at one point there was no such test. when sergeant reed went to walter reed on his own and went and inquired about it, i guess they gave him a test because they were tired of seeing him. when they got the results, whether they are accurate, we don't know most of my thing is this, i was very upset because i came down with the episode of urinating blood while i was at fort dix and then they found 2.5 centimeter lesion in my liver. they were trying to save it was cancerous. walter reed told me was benign. the fishy thing is my wife came

down just last month with abdominal pains that i had to take her to the hospital. they thought it was stones. they put her on painkillers. and antibiotics. they're still trying to figure out what caused it. amy: that is sergeant agustin matos. he was deployed in iraq, tested positive for du contamination. he continued to talk on the show. >> i myself while i was out there experienced a few for one night, unexplained. i was fine during the day and it just hit me, totally knocked me out. i could not get out of bed. i can't remember exactly what the fevers were. i was urinating blood when i was out there. it wasn't good. not the place to be when you're sick like that. amy: juan, you expose the story

of depleted uranium and here we are almost 20 years later. in light of this, if you can talk about what you feel at the time was understood in the united states? juan: i think the important thing to understand is this was a military police unit that had not been in actual combat in iraq but basically had been stationed in an area where combat and use of depleted uranium had occurred previously. they were basically camped out in what was an essentially contaminated area. the amazing thing to me was how when several of them began to get sick, they didn't find any kind of receptivity when they came back home and the veterans administration for trying to assess their illnesses or trying to figure out the cause. there was basically the u.s. government refusing to even look

and find out what was causing the illnesses in the soldiers. i think this is the problem, the long-term risks that anybody and an area were depleted uranium has been used. it continues obviously almost 20 years later the same problem now. amy: phil miller, as you listen to that soldier, and you look at this with britain and iraq as well, with the iraqis affected and now we're talking about ukraine and russia, what is the scientific consensus around the health impacts of depleted uranium? and how is the -- has the british government responded to your report? >> there is a real issue and a lot of the scientific research on the subject. it is very out of date. when i revealed, the ministry of

justice justified it. i found the reports they were referring to were from 2002 so they were over 20 years old. the role society have been quite angry at the time of the iraq war when the pentagon try to use the reports to justify sending depleted uranium or using it in a rack. you will see this tendency were first scientific studies are pointed to come they turned out to be out of date. an expert i've spoken to hear u.k. doug weir told me there is a growing body of scientific evidence that highlighted uncertainty and recommended precaution. that seems to be where the scientific debate is now. even more interesting, if you look at court cases -- here in u.k., we have had at least two

judgments were soldiers who served in iraq and were involved in removing tanks hit by depleted uranium from the battlefields have been found in one case kenny duncan, soldier, three of her children were born with deformities after his service in iraq. he was awarded a war pension on the basis of that. so there's a court judgment in his favor stating depleted uranium poisoning. another case, and it who served as a corporal in iraq, he died of cancer at the age of 39. the inquest jury in his case found it was probably depleted uranium that lead to cancer. that is just in the u.k. in italy, there over 300 cases where the italian courts have awarded for those linked to exposure to depleted uranium. in the case of these italian

soldiers, they were peacekeepers who were sent to kosovo in 1999. like your colleague was just saying, these were peacekeepers who were sent into areas after combat. there are often unaware depleted uranium had been fired there. they came back to italy with all these cancers. thousands of veterans suffering from cancer linked to uranium. we also need to look at the court judgments, how judges have been looking at this. it is quite alarming to now think this is being used in ukraine in areas where we want ukrainian civilians to be able to live after conflict on top of dealing with unexploded cluster munitions, they will also have depleted uranium to contend with as well. amy: phil miller, thank you for being with us, chief reporter

for declassified u.k. we will link to your piece "contamination fears after ukraine loses british tank." next up, the first africa climate summit in nairobi. we will speak with a kenyan activists there. back in 30 seconds. ♪♪ [music break] amy: "monangambe" by ruy mingas.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we end today's show in kenya with the first africa climate summit open monday. john kerry push for the establishment of a carbon market that many african climate justice advocates pushed back. ahead of the summit, ox and slammed wealthy nations for delivering that pittance they said to help east africa confront the climate crisis. according to oxfam, over 31 million people are currently facing acute hunger across ethiopia, kenya, simile of command south sudan due in part to the climate crisis which has disproportionally impacted the region. for more we are joined by eric njuguna, kenyan climate justice organizer who helped organize the alternative summit which just wrapped. thank you for being with us. talk about the significance of

the summit and the alternative summit that you helped organize. >> this is the person is a summit being held here but has been a huge push by western governments have been pushing for carbon markets and represents african interests. carbon markets is basically giving corporate and [indiscernible] running parallel to the nairobi summit, the african climate summit, to give an opportunity and platform for african people to share their own demands and

their own interests. juan: eric, could you talk about this issue of carbon markets that the u.s. climate envoy john kerry was pushing, that many multinational corporations around the world are trying to focus on in africa and some people have called it the wolf in sheep's clothing? >> there has been a report which exposes the reality of carbon markets on the african continent. people have been kicked out of their lands in the name of carbon market, yet john kerry is here in nairobi pushing for this very carbon market. no commitment from the u.s. to cut down. this shows the conflict of interest. on the one hand, pushing for

carbon markets. when he talks about finance, he says, the u.s. -- africa is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis and people are losing their own livelihoods as a result of the climate crisis. people desperately need the finance for loss and damage. john kerry does not have africa's interest at heart. amy: this is part of what john kerry said in his speech at the african climate summit yesterday. >> president biden has now launched a program called prepare, president emergency program for adaptation. and he has committed that we are going to help at least half a billion people in developing countries, especially in africa,

to be able to adapt to the worst impacts of this crisis. he has committed the united states to work alongside african nations to lead the way in adapting to and managing the impacts of the climate crisis. as part of prepare, he is providing or will guarantee that we will provide $3 billion annually for adaptation for the 12 million other program that he believes is essential in order to be able to do our part to adapt to this challenge. amy: that is the u.s. special climate envoy john kerry addressing the climate summit in kenya. eric njuguna is with this added internet café in nairobi. can you respond to what he has just promised, air? also talk

about how multinationals have benefited from mining across the african continent, particularly the cobalt mining, most notably in congo, and what you're calling for? >> the first thing john kerry has promised finance adaptation. but the reality, it has to be paid back for crisis -- that is why here, climate justice organizers are calling for -- [indiscernible] climate financing as reparations for the most effective people. juan: could you talk about how

you got involved in climate the climate event -- involved in the climate movement in your youth after severe drought in kenya? >> i became a climate justice organizer not because i wanted to but because i don't have any other choice but to be a climate justice organizer. kenya is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. back then when i became a climate justice organizer, nairobi was facing water shortages as a result of low water levels from the largest source of water for nairobi residents. as a result of that, having seen the impacts of lack of water, especially on young children, i was around 16 at the time, and having seeing the impacts of lack of water, it pushed me to take action. that is why i became a climate justice organizer.

amy: can you respond year on president, william ruto, said the african continent is losing 5% to 15% of its gross domestic product growth every year to the widespread impacts of climate change? and what you think needs to be done on the african continent by africans, though you're not the ones who have created the catastrophe of the climate today? >> there president's right, african countries are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. that is at a huge expense to our gdp. one thing that african state of focus on, and my message to african leaders here at the african climate summit, to focus on facing up all fossil fuels. massively invest in publicly lead renewable energy so energy

is offered to africans not as a commodity. senegal, indonesia, they have been pushing -- we need finance. also separate loss and damage to support those who have lost their own lives and livelihoods as result of the climate crisis. the second -- the third thing, africa has extracted minerals that are necessary to power [indiscernible] we don't follow the same patterns of those who have been benefiting from our minerals.

that is why we need to stand strong and develop frameworks that can provide -- sure countries like the drc were cobalt is being mined are benefiting from these resources but also a child labor in the supply chain of the minerals. it is estimated around 40,000 children are involved in the mining of cobalt in the drc, and we need to put an end to this. juan: can you talk as well not just about the role of western multinationals and united states, but also of china, the world's largest trading partner, so the current -- largest emitter of heat trapping gases, though historically not? china's role, especially in the african continent? >> yes. multiple global countries, especially -- global north countries and multinationals

here at the african -- sorry. could you repeat the question? amy: the role of china in africa when it comes to the climate crisis? >> china is one of the largest emitters but they have also been investing in renewable energy in the continent and also in china which is one of the leaders in developing solar panels. what we want as african countries is also technology transfer. that is something that africa -- china has been working in collaboration with african countries to ensure that there's a technology transfer. the technology not only been developed and they maintain -- the rights to the use of this

technology. amy: eric njuguna, thank you for being with us and even being able to hear us and the internet café you're in in nairobi, kenya. eric njuguna is a kenyan climate justice organizer and campaigner. that does it for our show. [captionin

(sophie fouron) this little muslim island is stuck between the east african coast and madagascar. it's also a bit stuck between the long walk towards modernity and its very strong traditions. there are many challenges here in grande comore. there is shortage of electricity, everyday, they have shortage of water, the roads are devastated, the infrastructures are old. they have a long way to come, but they are filled with hope and optimisim. people take care of one another here. there is a great deal of solidarity. there is a